FLASHBACK! Canada trip 2013...day 1, day 2

                                         It's April 2013 (whether you knew it or not) 
                                        and the Belleys are heading to the homeland!
(I never even posted about this trip so I thought now, exactly a year later was fitting.)
information in italics is copied from my small and trustworthy travel journal. :)
 April 10th 2013
We are off!!! (sorry Alexandre. I didn't do one exclamation point but three!)
Off we go!
Thus we go!
This trip finds me seated in the middle with me younger siblings! The idea was to give Nikola a more comfortable place to rest her newly adjusted neck better...but so far no one has slept!
I for one, only slept from 3 am to 4 am!Ha! But it felt like a full night. :) 
As expected by this realist, we left 2 hours late. But since it was still dark it didn't feel so bad. 

Sitting with the others was real nice; far more relational than up front; we talked, laughed; we played the ''guess the person'' game (which means without ceremony lumping suitable names-not rudely, just varying from ''Cyril to Tom or Virgil'' upon any drivers we pass and watching to see how they ''take'' it) until I randomly fell asleep! haha! and ate yummy, healthy and careful amounts of food...
I don't like sleeping back here unless I stretch my legs up on the parallel bench, and lean my head back...ahh! That was so comfy! And since I was ''new'' I enjoyed privileges.
Supposedly, putting one's toesies up on the bench in front is far from acceptable by the passengers seated facing your bench. But when I accomplished that taboo this time, with an innocent sigh of bliss, everyone looked a little sheepish and patient but didn't say anything. Then everyone proceeded to follow my example! haha. 
 We read our Bibles, studied French, slept, ate, had a water bottle fight (nothing like doing such things when you're exhausted!)...

uh...not so flattering. but interesting.

Oh the strange things you view on a road trip. Weird. Just weird.

As usual, we had fun settling into a hotel room for the night. Eating supper perched all over the place...laughing...talking...

Day 2...

April 11th 2013

(At a hotel someplace in the not-so-mid-USA and excited about breakfast. As usual) 

 I eagerly scanned the grub: muffins, bread (if you wish to thus entitle it), and bagels; cereal, juice...but to my joy: REAL cream cheese and REAL butter! I stocked up. The younger ones happily poisoned themselves with the usually-taboo fruitloops and such.

                                                                  Back on the road!

how we generally spend our travel time; leaning dangerously over the seats and chatting with siblings. :) This is my view of Jessie when I'm seated near the front and she twists around to be friendly.

                                                                   6-year olds sleep :)

12:20 pm driving through the Adirondacks again, just like 4 years ago! We just saw a lake, Piseco lake which was entirely frozen! This is fun.
It was neat to drive through the towns which we went through in 2009! There is snow here; more than in 2009! 
This morning was so easy, I've never had a more comfortable, healthy trip! I feel great.
12:30 pm Lake Pleasant...This scenic route is very pleasant indeed. Not breathtaking, but very cozy. The tall trees surrounded by snow and the rustic cabins give a fun atmosphere. There may be some cute cabins, but there are even more terribly run down shacks.

 

12:41 Speculator (town) This is a rather messy little town! But just ahead is a beautiful range of mountains, with Lake Pleasant below. 
1:30 pm Passed over Hudson river, through a red bridge! This is the town of Chester, est. 1799
Ahh...we travel well. :) Mummy is driving. These roads are just like IL anyhow. Or MO. 
1:32 pm Loon Lake. 
1:54 pm Saw a sign for ''Fort Ticonderoga'', which makes me wish we could stop by. There are so many things to see.

                            Papa artistically waved his sandwich around- perfect for a picture. (Nikola and I are the only ones fond of this picture. The question is: are we the odd ones, or are everyone else?)
Saw a truck of logs.
I feel Northern.

Another travelling shot:

3:55 pm Asable! The chasm did resemble a small grand canyon...it's the oldest natural attraction of the Adirondacks! Again we felt impressed by the great distance to the rushing waters below! But surprisingly, almost as if we remembered from 4 years ago, we didn't really feel dizzy.

It's so impressive! I love waterfalls and such. Sam took these pictures. I took identical ones with my camera but his were better.

                                  me with the Asable Chasm...sort of. (I'm rather in the way)

 

freezing siblings

Soon...very soon...after, we arrived at the border!

                                                              Always an exciting moment.

 

American, Canadian and Quebec flags! That's us. :)

As before, we were a little nervous at the customs (less than before. just a tiny bit this time)...and thankfully as before, we were allowed through with all our delicious vittles. :)

4:50 We're in Canada! It was easy yet again.

 

We're home! :) (in a sense)

 

Yay for French signs!

 

ayers rock?

On our way to the friends' who would kindly house us during our short stay in this portion of Canada, we passed through the small town Granby where we used to live. We stopped by the small hardware store which our friends used to own...and out came the very friend himself! They invited us over to their house to stretch our legs and eat our snack of a supper.

 

A random window with curtains which reminded us of the curtains in Sound of Music. 

That night we set up camp in the spacious and hospitable abode of some long-time friends. (a couple with no children at home) We kiddos had the basement to ourselves! It was spotless and fully finished with joy! a laundry room, our own bathroom and plenty of room to dance and run...back...and...forth....If our hosts heard our giggles, they kindly didn't mind. :)

I was delighted that many of us accidentally chose to wear stripes for this our second day of travel! We must all think alike. We don't own too many striped shirts yet stripes it had to be.

We're so special. We get to lie down on the spotless floor and get our picture taken in a circle.....'cause we're all wearing... stripes.
Thanks, Nikko. :)
The pictures of us lying on the floor in striped formation all got deleted because Nikko thought we looked sadly like dead bodies awaiting burial. ouch.

Oh my...thus ended our travels! Peaceful-like. 

Until the next travel day, 

yours truly 

the travelling Mazzou.

February 2014

NEW! Dance videos added to middle of post. (I forgot about them when I first published this)

Just when you thought winter was over...I have to go and post about February!

Sorry. But better now than later! And I'm almost caught up now. :)

February was enjoyable, productive and busy yet relaxed. Just a good ole' family month! To our delight, there were a couple great snow days during which we were able to sled. These pictures are from one Saturday that Katia dubbed ''A Special Day'' on account of the pancake breakfast, the sledding with Papa and the quick visit to the library afterwards. I dubbed it such because we went sledding, went to the library and had lamb for supper! (we had placed a Special order with some friends. I think lamb is my fav. meat. I know- I am expensive. But not picky! Never picky, I assure you.)

 

thought this would be great for our flourishing clothing business.

I like snow.

We're exactly the same size! And sporting totally different fashions...

                            In February enjoyed yet another dance in Belleville IL, with dear friends!
                          I don't think I have very many pictures from it....I'll have to check again. I prepared pictures for this post when this blog was still private.
But here are some videos! Most of the dancers in some portions are me family! Seriously. In this line there was Papa, Mum, Valerie, Nikola, Jessie, Elodie and Alexandre! The Belley family dancers!

says Nikko to me ''you look so sweet sitting there all brown and pink''

Valentine's Day.

You'd think that there would be much sadness in our home on that important occasion on account of a certain amount of unmarried folk residing in it...but for some reason none of us were ever really hit with the sadness of this day. Rather, it's a great time to show family members love and to set up a fun party for the younger siblings! And of course I love helping our parents and other couples enjoy the day.

Instead of each individual creating a masterpiece of a loving note for each separate member in the family and ending up with a stunning collection of 111 original Valentines to store, we now choose a ''Valentine'' from a hat. 

Alexandre snatches a slice of stollen

    I happily got Sam as my 'Valentine'. Bought him an endangered species chocolate bar and presented it inside a silly Valentine heart I made which featured a stunning photograph of a friendly beaver which I assured him was not meant to represent his self.

Of course we like to make everything complicated, so we made up a rule that each person would also make a code and treasure map to lead their Valentine to the card and wee gift. Some of these codes took hours to create and almost that long to crack, but it was a fun morning. 

Valentine's evening found Valerie, Jessica, Elodie and I babysitting about 18 kiddies for their parents who were attending a Valentine's banquet at the Burnses' church which is down the road from our home. (we babysat the children at the pastor's family's home which is also nearby.) Would you believe me if I told you it was my first time babysitting other people's treasures? I LOVED it! But then I got to cuddle one of the two younger-than-crawling-age babies all night! And it was hilarious watching Aristocats with all those children who thought it the funniest thing since burnt toast!

 Our parents were able to go out to a restaurant the day after Valentines. Nikola and I served at a wedding that night as well which was fun. I'm looking forward to the busy wedding season. (at the Larimore House Plantation- beautiful place.)

Alexandre helped Nikola paint. He found the best way to protect his hair from paint was a grocery bag. lol. He's such a good sport!

We repainted our kitchen ceiling and walls! Fun. Washing the walls, especially the (already painted but dingy) brick took longer than painting.
   In early February, I finally got around to listing Jessie's hair on a hair-selling site! The experience went much better than I expected! Although the inqueries didn't pour in as I expected, neither did the scam inquiries and for that I was thankful. Besides, all that is needed is one buyer. And we were able to get that one, who turned out to be quite safe and good to work with! The grand total for Jessie's hair was $300.00!
Needless to say, I'm growing my tresses out!

BEFORE....

....and AFTER!!

To our delight, our family was able to participate in the Men's Advance in Troy MO this year! It was like a vacation since I packed the favourite travel foods. Armed with enough clothes to last us a week, we descended upon the hotel and set up camp. (of course there had to be a small crowd in the lobby when we made our appearance loaded with worldly goods and grub. And of course the receptionist had to mention that our stay was indeed a meager one-night stay. ouch. *The Mazzou tries to look like she's not smuggling loot or anything....which of course was unnecessary since the presence of her treasured teddy poking his head out of her largest bag surely ensured the innocence of the owner...*)

It was delightful spending time with the Bridges ladies and Jones ladies in our temporary abode! We chatted and laughed and shared stories and watched the Tamburitzan folk dance DVD we brought along.

 

Although sleeping 7 sisters in one hotel room doesn't guarantee the most restful night, we always love hotel stays. Hotel mornings are fun too. I have no idea why but even I love going down to the breakfast room to eat! Of course the only edible items offered (for wise folks, that is) are usually the little packets of butter and half-and-half, and tea and fruit. 

But we are always armed with our own little containers of breakfast, which we highlight with countless wee tubs of butter.

Later, the little girls also got to swim in the hotel's pool.

And it was fun because we got to see some of the guys before they all headed out to the Men's Advance, and we spent some minutes with the other ladies staying in the hotel as well.

haha- great job with the photography ;) 

I love our little ducky!

The rest of the day we girls went local thrift store shopping! Ate lunch (hummus, bread, muffins, cheese) in the van and went to the Serven's for a pleasant and encouraging ladies' hour.

Pretty soon after, we joined the men at the church and enjoyed serving the food and eating with everyone!

Our brothers and Dad were enthusiastic about the messages they heard during the Men's Advance! As well as the discussions afterwards. I listened to the first one Mr. Scott Brown gave; it was indeed wonderful. I am so glad they were able to attend this event. And that we got to tag along. :)

So...there's February for you! :)